Unforgettable
by Flaaffy
Summary: Joanna already knows she's going to be a world famous trainer one day. So really, it's not even a big deal that she stole her first Pokémon, or that she ran away from home, or that she's now wanted by the most feared criminal organization of all time...right?
1. Faulty Start

_This story is dedicated to five people._

_Fang, my amazing beta,_

_Puff, for never failing to be the most incredible friend,_

_Flip, for her awesome characters and uplifting reviews,_

_MineralRabbit, for giving me my first review and sticking to my story, and_

_Sage of Emeralds, for giving me the confidence in my writing._

_Thank you all so much; you've all helped more with this story than you'll ever know._

* * *

><p>"We need to talk."<p>

Jim Jones looked up at his wife and raised an eyebrow carefully. Those four words–usually the precursor to either a new diet or something equally horrifying–never meant anything good for him. Heaving a sigh, he reached for the remote to turn the television off before shifting his body to give Jackie his full attention. "About?" he asked slowly.

The weathered, forty-something woman sat on the other side of the aging sofa, looking slightly upset. "Joanna," she replied simply.

After relaxing for a brief moment–it was _not _a diet!–Jim shifted uncomfortably; he should have known this would be the topic of conversation. "What do you want to do?"

* * *

><p>"Joanna!"<p>

A tiny figure paused, her head turning to the direction of her door. She had been in the middle of dancing and singing along to the radio, which was blaring loud enough to wake up her little brothers in the room next door.

"Okay, okay, I'll turn it down!" she yelled back before sharply reducing the volume.

"Come down!" her mother called, and the ten-year-old huffed, debating her options. She was truthfully not that interested in going down to meet her parents …but they had used her full name, which was certainly not a good sign.

Going with the safer route, she opened her door and walked quickly downstairs into their living room. Noting the serious looks on her parents faces, she dropped quietly into one of the armchairs. "Yeah?" she asked, her brown eyes wide with apprehension.

"Jojo," Jackie started carefully, treating the situation with dire apprehension. "Listen carefully."

"Yeah?" she repeated with a hint of impatience. "Is this about my journey? Because I thought we already had the big discussion, like, two weeks ago. I _know_ what to do, Mom. Don't spend your money on pointless things. Don't stay up too late. Don't over train your Pokémon. Don't talk to strangers until you have at least three badges. I _got it _already."

Silence hung after she finished talking, and instantly Jojo's demeanor changed. She looked down at the floor and murmured, "Sorry." Still, her parents said nothing.

"Joanna, you know your father is out of his job, correct?" Jackie asked calmly, ignoring the girl's outburst.

Jojo raised an eyebrow. Knew? Of course she knew. How could she not? A few weeks ago, Jojo's father had lost his job working for the Pokémon PC Company, who was downsizing due to the lack of need for human workers any longer. Both Pokémon and machines were doing the job quite nicely, and they were much less expensive than people. Since then, both of Jojo's parents had taken menial, low-paying jobs to help support the family while her older sister, Jillian, was working as a Kimono Girl in Ecruteak and sending home the bulk of her pay. "Well, technically, he does have a job," she said in a condescending tone. "He's a Poké Mart cashier."

"And can the salary of a Poké Mart cashier support a family of six?" Jackie shot back in a challenging manner.

"…no," Jojo muttered quietly.

"You know your brothers also can't take care of themselves, yes?" she continued.

"_Yeah_." She was getting visibly impatient with this conversation, wanting to get to the point. She'd been babysitting the two boys ever since both of her parents began working again; she'd had absolutely no free time to herself. Much as she loved Jack and Jake, they were only five and three respectively–at ten, taking care of them all day was much more responsibility than she could reasonably handle.

"So you understand why you can't go on your journey for a few more weeks, right?"

The effect was instantaneous. Tiny as she was, Jojo leapt up from the armchair with such force that the furniture in the room shook when she landed. Her face turned into a dark scowl, her hands clenched into fists, and she leaned forward, looking prepared to physically fight her parents. "What?" she screeched.

"Joanna, sit down," her mother said as calmly as possible. "Sit and we'll talk about this."

"_No_," she said fiercely. "I'm starting my journey tomorrow and you can't stop me."

"No, Joanna, you're not! Jack and Jake are too young to be at home by themselves, and your father, Jillian, and I are all working! Unless you're going to get a job now, you're staying here."

"My job is to be a trainer! That's what it's always been! I've always said that, and you're not taking it away from me!" Jojo stamped one foot angrily.

"We're not taking it away, Jojo, we're just postponing it for a few weeks! Please sit back down," Jackie said in a softer tone.

"No! I've been waiting ten years, and I'm not waiting any longer. This isn't fair to me! Why do I have to suffer because he lost his job?" She pointed angrily to her father, who had been silent up to that point.

"We're all suffering, Jojo!" Jackie said in an exasperated voice.

"Then why I do have to suffer the most?"

Jackie paused, unable to think of a response quickly enough. Finally she settled with, "Jojo, I'm sorry, but we all have to make sacrifices."

"No," she replied plainly. "I'm not waiting any longer. I'm going to Professor Elm's lab, I'm going to get my Pokémon, I'm going to start my journey, and I'm going to do it _tomorrow_."

"Jojo-"

"And you can't stop me!" she screamed.

"Joanna, sit down!" her father yelled, finally speaking up for the first time.

"_No_!"

"Keep this up, and you will never get a Pokémon!"

"Shut up!" she screeched. "Shut up shut up shut up _shut up_! This is your fault! _Your fault_! I hate you for this!"

"You can hate me all you want; I don't care," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "But that doesn't change the fact that you have to take care of your brothers."

"I'm going on my journey!" she yelled.

"We can talk about this in the morning," he replied.

"No, don't say that," Jackie snapped at him. "That makes it sound like she still has a chance at going."

"I _am_ still going!"

"Jojo, go to your room now."

"What time should I wake up to leave?"

"Goodnight, Jojo."

"Alright, whatever. I just won't say goodbye, then."

"Joanna!"

With one last burning look at her parents, Jojo turned on her heel and stomped her way up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door as loudly as she could, trying to wake up her brothers. As soon as the door closed, she kicked the wall with the most power she could muster.

She cringed as the pain shot up her leg, and hot tears began to prickle at her eyes. She threw herself loudly onto her large pink bed and did the only thing she could think to do–burying her face in her pillow, she screamed as loud as possible before bursting into tears. She slammed herself against the bed, punching and hitting the mattress and pillows with more force than she knew she had. Jojo managed to keep this up for a good fifteen minutes before finally crying herself into a fitful sleep.

"She's taking it better than expected," Jim remarked dryly.

* * *

><p>When she awoke, it was still dark, and she could feel the ache of sadness resting heavily over her. She lay silently for a few minutes before she realized that she wasn't about to fall back asleep anytime soon. With a little huff, she sat up, her comforter falling down to her lap. If she was being honest, she didn't want to go to sleep unless it meant she was going to wake up and leave to become a Pokémon trainer in just a few hours.<p>

The more she thought about it, the more the rage filled her again. She could not stay here–it simply wasn't an option. She felt a burning hatred for the entire house, for every inch of it that was confining her instead of allowing her to go out and start her life of adventure. Angrily, she leapt quickly out of bed and landed a little too loudly on the carpet.

She froze, waiting to see if the noise had caused anyone to wake up. When she heard nothing, she crossed her room to flick on the light switch. She had way too much energy to even attempt going back to sleep, so she paced around the room anxiously. More than ever in her life, she had the deepest longing to have her own Pokémon _now_, so she could just leave and not care about the consequences.

_So why don't you?_

The thought struck Jojo suddenly, and it made her pause. She looked over at her desk, where she had meticulously laid out her supplies earlier in the day. Silently, she walked up and picked up one of the five Poké Balls in her hand. She rolled it around in her palm a few times, looking blankly down at it, before setting it back down. Run away? That was ridiculous. She was young, unprepared, and Pokémon-less.

"_I'm not waiting any longer. I'm going to Professor Elm's lab, I'm going to get my Pokémon, I'm going to start my journey, and I'm going to do it tomorrow."_

As her own words hung in her memory, her eyes travelled slowly to the digital clock sitting on her bedside table. 1:12. Tomorrow.

"_Keep this up, and you will never get a Pokémon!"_

Her eyes narrowed suddenly when her father's voice reached her this time, and the fury raged through her again. Her head snapped back to her desk, where her travelling clothes were sitting. It was a fairly plain outfit: a red and white striped shirt, jean shorts, tennis shoes, and a red headband with a large bow on it. Nothing that would make anyone suspicious, especially not that she was a runaway trainer.

Her heart pounding, she quickly changed into the comfortable clothing and threw the rest of her items haphazardly into her bag. She had the Poké Balls, her Pokégear, enough money to last her until she would earn some more, and an assortment of other items that she had bought with her mother a few weeks ago. She could do this. She would do this.

Then, before she had a chance to change she opened her bedroom door and flicked the light off. Expertly, she walked down the stairs without making any noise and went into the kitchen. Her new shoes squeaked against the linoleum floor, and she cringed, pausing and listening carefully. When nothing happened, she began to move towards the window again.

"Jojo?"

Jojo closed her eyes and took a deep breath, praying that the voice was only in her imagination. When she turned around and looked into the living room, she saw a very tiny child curled up into a ball on the worn sofa.

"Jakey," she whispered softly, walking over and sitting down next to him. "What are you doing awake?"

"Couldn't sleep," Jake said, much louder than he should have. Jojo winced again. "Where are you goin'?"

She took one deep, steadying breath before steeling herself. "I'm going to get a Pokémon, Jakey, and then I'm going on my journey."

"Journey?" Jake asked curiously, mispronouncing the word.

"You know how you like watching the battles on T.V. with me?" she prompted, motioning to the television a few feet away. Jake nodded eagerly, though he still looked confused. "That's gonna be me…soon. I'm going to become a Pokémon trainer." He nodded again, and Jojo instinctively wrapped him in a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you _so_ much, Jakey. You know that, right?" She blinked, and a few tears ran unexpectedly down her cheeks, but she brushed them away impatiently. Now was _not_ the time for crying.

"I'm gonna miss you, too," Jake said, hugging her back. Instead of crying, however, he patted her head gently, getting a small giggle from his sister.

"Jakey." She sniffled. "You can't tell Mom and Dad about this, okay? It's gonna be our secret, alright?" The young boy nodded. "Pinky promise?" she asked, holding out her littlest finger and giving him a serious look.

He nodded again, taking the finger with his. "Pinky promise."

"I love you, Jakey," she said, swallowing hard to keep the lump in her throat from getting any bigger.

"Love you too, Jojo," her brother replied. She began to move, but he cried out, "Wait!"

"What?" she hissed impatiently, her eyes flickering up the stairs to her parent's bedroom door.

"Kiss," he stated plainly. With a grin at his innocence, she leaned over and pressed her lips to the top of his curly brown hair.

Jojo stood up and walked towards the window, her face unreadable as she prepared herself. "Bye," she whispered, sparing Jake one last look before she jumped through.

The warm summer air blew lightly around her as she fastened the window shut again, and she realized with a jolt that she hadn't figured out what she would do once she made it outside of her house. She couldn't just leave New Bark Town without a Pokémon; weak as the wild ones on Route 29 were, she was not interested in capturing any of them, and starting a Pokémon journey without Pokémon was both dangerous and dumb.

Jim had worked as an aide for Professor Elm, helping with the intense usage of Bill's PC required for his research. They had worked out a deal together; Elm would give Jojo one of the three traditional Johto starters and a Pokédex. They referred to it as a "win-win situation"–Jojo got a rare and soon-to-be powerful Pokémon along with a very useful device while Elm received data for every Pokémon she came across.

Cyndaquil, Chikorita, and Totodile were known as Johto's "starter" Pokémon due to the fact that they were the first three listed in the Johto Pokédex, as well as them being completely unavailable outside of Johto. Breeders found them nearly impossible to breed as the vast majority of the species were male. They were not in high demand outside of Johto, though that was more of a pride thing; most trainers would rather have a starter from their home region, if only to represent where they were from. The only thing they could be profitably bred for was research, so Jojo was considerably excited to find out she would be getting one.

_And you still can,_ she thought suddenly. Instinctively, she began walking towards Professor Elm's lab. _It's not stealing if it would have belonged to you anyway, right?_

It was a short walk, barely ten minutes, and Jojo found herself outside of a low window that led to the lab her father used to work at. She realized with mild amusement that her heart was pounding unnaturally fast and her palms were exceedingly sweaty. She stifled a little giggle as she pushed the unlocked window open and slipped through.

The lab was dark, but she had been there enough times to find her way around with little struggle. Jojo walked into the Pokémon storage room slightly apprehensively, before taking a steadying breath and squaring her shoulders confidently.

She marched down the aisle, looking for the row marked "C". She had decided weeks ago that Cyndaquil, being the cutest and most powerful of the starters, would be the perfect Pokémon for her. But as she got to the row, she paused. She was in the lab of an esteemed Pokémon professor, who probably had every Pokémon ever discovered. She had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity–any Pokémon she wanted, no strings attached. In typical Jojo fashion, she kept walking.

Jojo found the "S" row and turned, walking slowly down the aisle. She wanted what was perhaps her favorite Pokémon, Skitty. They were adorable, cuddly, and _pink_–if that wasn't the perfect Pokémon, she didn't know what was. She bent low to read the labels on the shelves, squinting as she struggled in the low lighting. She leaned forward slightly, trying to make out the writing, when she lost her balance and stumbled onto the shelf.

Poké Balls tumbled off the shelf as she tried to catch herself. Jojo gasped as the bright fluorescent lights came on–along with a blaring alarm. Panicking, she grabbed the nearest ball and bolted to the open window. But as she ran, only one thought crossed her mind.

_No turning back._

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Hellooooo, FFN! You may or may not remember me, and you may or may not remember this story. If you didn't recognize it, it is a reboot of Ever After, an old story of mine. If you did recognize it…it's back and (hopefully!) better than ever. Hopefully you weren't overwhelmed by the amount of "J" names, and hopefully you're willing to stick around for the next chapter!

Thank you all for simply reading this! I'll be back with chapter two soon; hope to see you then!

~Irene


	2. Slow and Unsteady

Her clothes were drenched. Her hair was tangled. She couldn't see. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think.

She kept running.

There was nothing else she could do besides run. After everything she had done - snuck out, broken into a laboratory, and stolen a Pokémon - she knew there was no other option for her. She didn't belong in New Bark Town anymore. She was a criminal, a thief, a bandit. She was a trainer.

She was a _trainer_.

This simple thought made her skid to a sudden halt as she looked around. She owned a Pokémon. She could officially call herself a trainer.

Still, she didn't quite know what exactly she was training. In her haste to get out of the lab before she was caught, she had simply picked up the nearest ball. She had no idea what it contained, which, she figured, might be good to know. Slowly, she reached into her drawstring bag, digging around for the stolen ball.

_Snap._

With a gasp, she started running again. Something had made that noise. Someone _had_to be on to her! Because New Bark Town was so tiny, Cherrygrove's Officer Jenny acted as the police force for both towns. Was it possible she was already on Jojo's trail? She couldn't risk it. She kept running.

It wasn't long before the lights of Cherrygrove appeared before her. Route 29 was not a particularly lengthy path, and it was one she had walked several times before. On hot summer days with the sun beating down as she dragged her unwilling brothers along on errands she'd been left, the trip still only took about thirty minutes. Jojo was a familiar face to the inhabitants of the smaller town; they were enraptured with Jake specifically, who she watched like a Staraptor whenever they were out. If any of them saw her, she would be easily identifiable. There was no chance of safety if she stopped there. With a deep breath, she turned right and pushed her way through the dense trees, and continued up what she hoped was Route 30.

As she was normally in a hurry or in possession of two restless boys, Jojo had never ventured up the northern route without her mother, and those trips were few and far between. She had always been curious of the path that traditionally held wild Pokémon and trainers that, while inexperienced, were still far more advanced than she was. She used to dream of the day when she would walk along the route with Cyndaquil at her side, effortlessly blasting the other trainers aside as she made her way to Violet City to obtain her first badge. Somehow, running from the law in the dead of night with some unknown Pokémon buried in her bag wasn't exactly cutting it.

Sometime later – was it twenty minutes? Thirty? – she realized there was simply no energy left in her to run. She was quite surprised she had even made it that far without collapsing, though she wasn't complaining. Unwillingly to stop until she was absolutely sure she was safe, Jojo staggered along until a solid rock wall blocked her way. Upon closer examination, she realized it was a cave – _Dark Cave_, a random memory told her. _I'll be safe enough here_, she decided, and entered cautiously. She stumbled around for a while before finally picking a spot and thumping down ungracefully. She was too tired to bother with her sleeping bag, so instead she maneuvered her bag around until it passed as a semi-comfortable pillow, and fell asleep within minutes.

When she awoke, she was being crushed alive.

"Ouch!" she shrieked, immediately wide awake. "Get off!" Jojo wriggled futilely underneath the huge body that was now on top of her.

"Sorry, sorry!" a deep voice replied, and with a great heave, he pushed himself off of her. Angrily, she sat up and brushed her hair out of her eyes, sending a death glare at the man standing before her. Despite being at least three times her size, he still shrunk back a step at the look on her face. "I'm sorry, little lady. I was trying to explore this cave with Battle's sonar instead of Flash, but I guess you were too low behind this rock that it didn't pick you up." He motioned to the intimidating Golbat fluttering behind him. "Are you alright? Here, let me help you up." He extended his large hand down to her, which she stared at for a second before finally taking it. With little effort, the hiker lifted her to her feet. Still looking unhappy at her rude awakening, she dusted herself off. "I'll get your bag for you as well. Now tell me, what's a little lady like you doing in a big scary cave like this?"

Still upset, she thought frantically for something to tell him. "I was looking for a Geodude when I got too tired to carry on. It's not so bad in here, and besides, my Chikorita isn't strong enough to take on Falkner by himself. I figured Geodude would be a good reserve Pokémon."

The hiker let out a loud guffaw. "Now isn't this something? You can't have been a trainer for more than two days, but you're already talking like an expert. I guess you really know your stuff, don't you, little lady?"

With a grin, Jojo bent down to pick up her headband, which had fallen off while she slept. "I'm not an expert," she said with uncharacteristic modesty. "But I guess I'm alright. I've watched battles since, like, the day I was born, so I've learned a thing or two."

"Well, didn't your mother teach you not to talk to strangers?" Jojo froze, realizing he was completely right. This was a totally unknown man she'd met in a scary cave. Why on earth wasn't she running? He laughed again, and she glared once more. "I'm just messin' with ya. You should see the look on your face!" Still snickering, he handed her bag back to her. "Be careful, little lady. And good luck catching that Geodude!"

Jojo stood stock still, refusing to move a muscle until his footsteps faded completely and all she could hear was silence. Then, with blinding movement, she ran as fast as she had the night before to the entrance of the cave. As soon as she was out, she dug to the bottom of her canvas bag and pulled out the shiny red and white sphere that held the path to her future.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she pressed the center button once, and it expanded in her hands. It felt just like the empty ones she had played with for hours in her room, but at the same time, it was so, so different. This one ball held her starter Pokémon; her best friend, her most loyal partner, the one she could rely on through thick and thin. The one that would experience everything with her, the one she would cherish the memories with forever. Her starter Pokémon.

She pressed the button again.

* * *

><p>Jackie Jones yawned as the bright light creeping through the blinds hit her eyes. She pulled the covers up over her face, trying to keep the pleasant dream she had been having, but eventually frowned as she remembered the fight she had with her youngest daughter last night. She decided chocolate chip pancakes, her favorite breakfast food, would be a good way to apologize to her; she <em>did<em> feel bad about delaying her journey, after all.

A quick walk downstairs later, Jackie stood in the living room, looking at the worn sofa that her youngest son was nestled on. "Jakey," she whispered, softly shaking him awake. As his eyes began to blink sleepily open, she continued, "Would you like to make pancakes with me?"

The young boy rubbed his eyes blearily before nodding, his brown curls flying in all directions. "I'll get the flour!" he offered cheerily as the two of them walked over to the kitchen, and he started for the pantry. While he searched the back for the container, he suddenly remembered his conversation with Jojo. With a gasp, he immediately stopped searching and ran out of the kitchen. "Be right back!" he hollered, bolting upstairs towards Jojo's room.

"Where are you going?" Jackie called after him.

"Just a second!" he shouted back.

"Stop yelling!" she hissed angrily. "You'll wake your father!"

Ignoring her, he opened the door to his older sister's room and saw the empty, unmade bed and missing equipment. He grinned, looking around the suddenly unfriendly seeming space. "Mom!" he called.

"Stop _yelling_!" she repeated, walking over towards the stairs. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Can I have Jojo's room?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Jojo's gone," he repeated plainly. "Can I have her room?"

"Joanna is _not _gone," Jackie replied. "She's staying home for a few more weeks."

"No, she's gone! Can I pretty please have her room?" Jake tried again eagerly.

"Jake, what are you talking about?" she asked, walking up the stairs to peer into her room as well. "Oh Arceus…" she whispered. "Jim? Jim!" When she got no response, she turned to Jake. "Go wake your father. _Now_."

"On it!" he replied dutifully, and scampered away.

Jackie looked back into the room and gave a great sigh. "Oh Arceus. Oh Mew. Oh Arceus, please, no." She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together in anguish. "Oh Mew, please keep her safe."

* * *

><p>"...slow?"<p>

"Oh my Mew..." she muttered, blinking dumbly for a few moments. Jojo pinched herself once, leaving indents where her nails were. Finally, she squeezed her eyes shut tight, counting to ten in her head. When she opened her eyes, she gave a pathetic little moan and slumped down onto the ground. This could not be happening. This _could not_be happening.

"...Slowpoke," the Pokémon said with a yawn before rolling lazily onto its side.

"Are you kidding me!" she shouted to the sky. A Slowpoke. Of all the Pokémon in that entire lab, she had grabbed the ball for a _Slowpoke_. "I think this is what Jillian called 'karma'," she said aloud, glancing disdainfully at the Pokémon next to her. "If you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. But she said that after I stole her brown boots and wouldn't tell her where I put them, so I thought she made that up." She stood up and walked over to her Pokémon, staring down at it. "And you? You are a very bad thing."

The Slowpoke looked blankly back at her, clearly not realizing what she was saying. In frustration, she jabbed the pink potato sack in the side with her foot; a full four seconds later, he reacted by turning to the other side and shooting a stream of water at the trees. In response, Jojo tilted her head back and screamed.

When she stopped, she was overcome with the urge to cry. She wanted to turn around, to go home, to apologize to her parents and get a big hug from them and then fall asleep in her own bed. She wanted nothing more than to not have to sleep on the ground ever again and to never have to refer to a Slowpoke as her starter Pokémon. She wished dearly now that she had decided to get a Cyndaquil after all. This was so unfair.

Jojo was surprised when a few tears managed to leak out of her eyes, but was more shocked by what happened after that. As she wallowed in her own misery, her Slowpoke walked up close to her and stared blankly. Then, with painstakingly slow movements, he nuzzled her cheek in a caring fashion, brushing the tears away as he was at it. She blinked a few times, dumbstruck, before allowing a small smile to cross her face. "Okay, I guess you're not terrible." She reached out to stroke his head, and even though he didn't have the warm fur of a Cyndaquil of a Skitty, his soft skin was comforting to the touch.

"I wanna give you a name," she said, thinking hard. The Slowpoke stared absently back at her, and she rolled her eyes. "I wonder if you even understand what I'm saying. Probably not. You've got nothing going on up here, am I right?" She knocked on his head, grinning when he didn't even react. "Yep, that's right. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. Zero. Hey, zero!" With a look of surprise at her own brilliance, she beamed at her Pokémon. "Your name's gonna be Zero, alright? Ze-ro. Got it? Good! Because you and me, Zero? We're gonna famous. Everyone's gonna know our names. Jojo and Zero, the unstoppable duo! We have to be, because I'm not gonna stop until I'm known worldwide, and I can't do it without my starter. That's just…that's just not right, you know? So we gotta do it together, okay? Promise me, Zero, me and you. We're gonna be unforgettable!" She held her hand out, palm facing up, to Zero. Though it took him a good ten seconds, he eventually placed his own one-toed limb in hers. With a shake of finality, she gave her biggest smiled yet and stood. "Alright then, first things first. We're gonna take on Falkner!" She raised her arm to punch the air, but her stomach growled loudly.

"Maybe we should get some food first."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Yeah, yeah, it's not like updating is one of my talents, anyway.

However, everyone that enjoyed this chapter needs to go shower love upon Sage of Emeralds. She gets hugeeee props because without her, you may have never seen this chapter. Go. _Love her_.

If I haven't replied to a PM/review of yours, I'm sorry! I've been trying to get to them all, but I get super busy and forget which ones I have and haven't done, and then that just stresses me out and I go eat my feelings. I pinky promise to reply to everyone's this time, though! If not, feel free to bug me until I do. :)

Thank you for reading! With luck, chapter three will be on its way soon!

~Irene


	3. Starting From Zero

Although Jojo had never eaten at a restaurant by herself before, she credited herself for doing pretty well. She had known to say "Table for one!" to the hostess, didn't take too long figuring out her order, and even remembered to smile at the waiter as she asked for the check. All in all, she figured she'd done a good job. The only thing that was left was to actually pay, and she could add it to her ever-growing list of firsts. She reached into the zipper pocket of her bag and began to dig around for her money, when a cold jolt coursed through her.

The pocket was empty.

Anxiously, her hand grasped at the sides of the pocket, and she could feel her heartbeat speeding up. Maybe she'd put it in the wrong pocket…? No, she'd triple checked that when she was packing her bags. She'd only had ¥3000 in the first place, but even that much was more than she'd ever had in her lifetime. Jojo had been very certain to make sure that pocket was completely zipped at all times.

"_I'll get your bag for you as well. Now tell me, what's a little lady like you doing in a big scary cave like this?"_

With a start, those words echoed in her memory. The hiker was the only person that had touched her bag, and Jojo realized that in her confusion of just waking up, he must have taken her money without her noticing. She bit her lower lip as she tried to hold back tears of shame. He _did_ warn her not to talk to strangers, after all.

With shaking hands, Jojo brushed her wet cheeks and tried to think of what to do. She had to pay for this meal somehow, but as she was now completely broke, she didn't know how. She looked around the restaurant, and noticed a few people staring at her tear-covered face. She made direct eye contact with a few of them, raising her eyebrows condescendingly until they looked away, embarrassed to have been caught. Turning back to the table, she looked at the bill. It wasn't much; she'd only gotten eggs and toast. Would they _really _miss that little bit of money?

"Hey!" she heard a loud voice shout, and in her guilty state of mind, she jumped visibly, causing a few more people to stare. Jojo looked to find that one of the restaurant employees was running out of the kitchen, chasing a small orange and black Pokémon that had a chunk of meat in its mouth. "Stop that Growlithe!" he shouted, and she seized her opportunity to escape. After standing the check upright as though ready to be taken by the waiter, she quickly lost herself in the crowd making their way after the thieving Pokémon and slipped through the front door of the restaurant unnoticed.

As soon as she was sure there was plenty of distance between her and the restaurant, she let go of a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. _I've gotta stop doing that_, she thought, pacing around aimlessly to try to calm down. The Growlithe she'd barely caught a glimpse of gave her a good idea, though. As she stood and walked out of Bellsprout Cuisine, she knew that, even with her grandiose promise to Zero, the two of them weren't going to make it very far without the addition of more team members. Since Zero was so slow, maybe a Pokémon as fast as a Growlithe would help balance out her party. It was worth a shot.

Jojo wandered pointlessly around until her heart had stopped thumping erratically and she found someone that didn't look too intimidating or discerning. She had decided to keep low for a while, and didn't want to attract the attention of anyone with authority. Trying to look nonchalant, she approached the teenage boy and said in her politest voice, "Excuse me?"

"Yeah?" the kid said, looking bored.

"Um, I was just wondering…I saw a Growlithe running through the town earlier today. Can they be found in the wild around here?"

"That Growlithe was here again? Damn him. He runs through town all the time and steals anything he can find. A bunch of Growlithe live out west a bit, on Route 36, but be careful with that one. Trainers go out there from time to time to drive him away from the town, but no one ever bothers capturing him, since he's nothing but a nuisance. Why? You looking to capture one?" Jojo nodded eagerly. "Well, if you're going out there, just be careful. They're not too strong, but they're unpredictable and very territorial, and have been known to attack humans that come too close." He leaned back slightly, giving her a once-over and rolling his eyes. "If you're not confident in your Pokémon, I'd stay away."

"Oh, don't worry," Jojo said with a smirk. "I'm completely confident."

* * *

><p>Completely was a bit of an exaggeration.<p>

Zero, Jojo was beginning to discover, was almost completely useless with the strategies she knew. She'd watched tournaments for years, but Slowbro weren't common, and even when they did make an appearance, the moves they used were much too advanced for her untrained starter. Most of tournaments she'd watched had involved fast-paced fights that relied on powerful, hard-hitting moves. As he was neither fast nor particularly strong, she was at a loss with how to direct him in battle.

Sighing in defeat, she pulled out her pink Pokédex and pointed it at the Slowpoke. The device began to speak in a computerized woman's voice that grated at Jojo's ears. "_Slowpoke, the Dopey Pokémon. It is always so absent-minded that it won't react, even if its flavorful tail is bitten._"

Flavorful tail? Jojo raised her eyebrows as she glanced at his backside, which didn't look particularly appetizing. "But who am I to judge?" she asked aloud. Three seconds later, Zero turned to stare at her, confused. "Never mind," she said impatiently. She looked at her Pokédex, scrolling through the different menus until she found Zero's moves. "Let's catch a Growlithe. Do you think you'll be able to handle a Water Gun, at least?"

Zero made no sign of comprehending her, so she rolled her eyes and began walking along Route 36. He followed a few feet behind her, and it wasn't long before she heard rustling nearby. She whipped her head around and froze, listening closely for where the noise came from. When she heard it again, she pointed quickly to the patch of grass and shouted, "Zero, Water Gun!"

After the expected reaction time, he managed to shoot the stream of water toward the bush. A Pidgey appeared, looking more insulted than hurt, and it flapped up and away instead of bothering to fight. "We don't need a Pidgey, anyway," she said, more to herself than to Zero. "We need to be able to beat a Pidgey, because all Falkner trains are those stupid things anyway. Let's keep going!"

Her optimism was short lived. Half an hour of nothing but Pidgey and the occasional Bellsprout later, Jojo flopped down next to a tree, and leaned her back against it in the shade. "I know training is supposed to be hard and stuff," she said, "but I didn't realize capturing one simple Pokémon would be so difficult!" Then she frowned as she thought over her own words. "Well, it might be easier if I wanted any Pokémon, but I definitely want a Growlithe. They're cute, and strong, and not idiotic." She looked disdainfully over to Zero. Despite the pact she'd made with him, she still had her doubts. Maybe if she could catch a Marill or Poliwag or something that wasn't completely brain dead, she could replace Zero on her team. As soon as the thought occurred to her, she felt a pang of guilt. Zero was her starter. Even if he was completely useless, she couldn't just give up on him.

"Slow," he said quietly, and she looked back over at him. It appeared that the shady patch under one of the large trees was a wonderful place for a nap; Zero had taken full advantage of it and was now snoring peacefully.

Okay, maybe she could just give up on him.

"Zero!" she yelled, but he made no movement. With an angry huff, she stomped over to him and prodded him in the side with her shoe. "Wake up! We are _trying_ to catch a Growlithe. It is _not_ nap time!" He stirred slowly and proceeded to shoot a stream of water in the opposite direction of her in response to her foot attack. "You are hopeless."

With more nagging, she managed to get Zero back onto his feet and they began walking again. Another twenty minutes passed with nothing but a single female Nidoran appearing (though she swore she caught a glimpse of a Stantler as well). "_This_ is hopeless!" she said angrily, and took out her frustration by kicking a rock into a cluster of trees. She spun around and looked at Zero, a frown on her face. "C'mon, Zero, it's not happening. We're not gonna find a Growlithe. I knew I should've caught that Nidoran. Let's just go back to Violet and train some and maybe – hey!" Jojo turned back around to the trees she'd kicked the rock into, and looked down at the ground. The rock was back at her feet, and there was a sharp pain where it seemed to have hit her in the back of her head. She bent down and picked up the rock, keeping her eyes on the trees. "Who…?"

She got her answer as a Growlithe jumped out at her. He was panting slightly – it almost looked as though he was smiling – and his tail was wagging a mile a minute. Jojo's eyebrows rose in excitement, and she pointed to Zero without taking her eyes off the wild Pokémon. "Water Gun," she said, her voice shaking slightly in the shock of a Growlithe jumping out right in front of her. With what appeared to be a great deal of effort, Zero walked in front of her and looked squarely at the Growlithe. Then, a few moments later, he managed to shoot a stream at the wild Pokémon.

Living up to his species' reputation for speed, he dodged the attack effortlessly. Then, without warning, he bolted straight towards Jojo. Startled, she let out a small shriek and held her hands up to protect her face, but instead of attacking her, he sunk his teeth into her bag and pulled it off her arm. "Hey!" she shouted, now furious. She'd spent over an hour searching for this Pokémon, and now he was just going to steal her bag and run off? "Absolutely not," she snarled, and threw the rock in her hand with surprising strength and accuracy.

It smacked the Growlithe hard on the head, and he froze before turning to face her, a low rumbling coming from his throat. Undeterred, Jojo grabbed a nearby stick and brandished it at his face. The Growlithe snarled at the challenge. "Give me my bag back," Jojo said in the same loud, commanding voice that she used on her brothers when disciplining them. The Growlithe only growled again, the fur on his neck sticking up. "Alright, you asked for it."

She swung the stick with as much strength as she could muster, knocking the bag out of his mouth. They both turned to look at the bag, then back at each other. Instantaneously, the two dived for it, the Growlithe getting there first. "No!" Jojo screeched, wrapping her arms around his neck to prevent him from getting away, and she attempted to wrestle the bag from his mouth. It flew open, and its contents were flung everywhere; Poké Balls rolled away, her Pokédex hit a tree, and the little bit of food she had packed was now sprawled out on the ground.

Seeing this, Jojo glared angrily at the Pokémon still in her arms, who was struggling to get to the food. "You stupid…ugh!" she said, and pounded her first into the top of his head. He stopped trying to get away and instead sunk his teeth into her arm. She shrieked and released him, and he dived for the food. "Not so fast!" she yelled, and she lunged for one of the Poké Balls and without thinking, threw it at him. There was a sudden silence as he was sucked in by the red light, and she stared anxiously as the ball rocked back and forth once…twice…

_Click._

Joanna stared blankly, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Then, slowly, she walked toward the ball and picked it up carefully. She turned to Zero, grinned, and said, in a quiet voice, "I did it." Zero's expression did not change. "Zero, I did it." she said louder, her smile growing. "I _did_ it!" She laughed loudly, punching a fist into the air. "Everyone was always like, 'Jojo, training Pokémon is harder than you think! Catching them isn't easy and training them is even more difficult! And you're probably going to suck at it and you're not gonna be any good and you're gonna give up after your first loss and blah blah blah!' But look! I wanted a Growlithe and I caught one. I caught the one that the entire town hates because he's such a trouble maker, which means he's strong, and he's mine! And Growlithe are so cute, plus Arcanine are a lot more common than Slowbro in tournaments, so actually know some strategies I can use with him, unlike you. I can't wait until the Silver Conference when everyone sees my Arcanine! Everyone will be like, 'Jojo, sorry we ever doubted you, you have a freaking Arcanine and you're basically destined to be a famous Pokémon Master or something!' Also, Growlithe aren't Poison-types, so their bites aren't poisonous, right?" she asked, examining the bite on her arm with mild interest. He hadn't pierced the skin, so she wasn't too worried, though the wound still stung and she could see the teeth marks.

"I gotta give him a name!" she said, and pressed the button on the ball. The Growlithe came back out with a stunned look on his face; clearly still shocked to be captured. He turned his head towards the forest, as though he was thinking about making a run for it. "No, don't run!" Jojo said, noticing this. "Please don't run. You're too fast and then I would have to spend hours chasing you, because I can't let you get away. I need you." The weight of these words seemed to hit Jojo suddenly, and she sat down, holding her hand out for her Growlithe to sniff. "The guy in town told me about you. You go around stealing things because you don't have what you need, or what you think you need, and everyone blames you for it. But you're not bad, even if you did bite me." He walked forward and sniffed her hand curiously. "Because that's what you're taught. If you want something, you have to fight for it, right? Even if everyone hates you for it." Jojo's eyes welled up unexpectedly with tears, and she gingerly petted his head. She wasn't even sure why she was crying this time, though she felt the tears sting as they rolled down her cheeks and knew that her skin was probably dried out from all the sobbing she'd been doing recently.

The Growlithe seemed to look curiously at her, as though carefully thinking something through (or deciding she was insane; Jojo wasn't quite sure), before moving close to her and getting on his hind legs, placing his paws on her shoulders. He then yipped happily and licked her cheek before nuzzling into her neck. Jojo laughed noisily and hugged him as tight as she could. "How about Rocket?" she asked, pulling him away from her so she could see his face. "'Cause you're fast, like a rocket, plus they have fire coming out of them, right?" She looked extremely pleased with herself for making this connection. "What do you say, Rocket?" He barked again, looking excited as well, and Jojo giggled before pulling him into another hug.

"Now, help me clean up my stuff," she said, putting him down and looking at her bag's scattered contents. Obligingly, he trotted over to the farthest Poké Balls and grabbed them with his mouth. Jojo gave him a look of mild surprise. "See, Zero, why can't you listen to me when I tell you to do things?" she said, looking at him, who was predictably not paying her any attention. However, he did seem to be focused on something else, and, confused by the rareness of this event, she turned her head to see what he was looking at. There was a slight rustling in the bushes closest to Rocket. Jojo stood and began walking over to them when another Growlithe jumped out from it with a snarl.

She gasped and backed up, startled. Then with a huff, she bent down to pick up a rock without taking her eyes off the wild Pokémon. She raised one eyebrow coolly and said, "Look, I already won one fight against a Growlithe by myself, so you should probably think what you're about to do through." He snarled again, but Jojo was not phased in the least. As they stared each other down, however, even more Puppy Pokémon began to stalk out from the surrounding bushes and trees. She looked around, a flicker of fear darting onto her face before she quickly covered it up with an impassive look.

Rocket was suddenly back by her side, the Poké Balls forgotten as he rushed to his trainer. Jojo picked up her nearly empty bag as what she assumed was the alpha Growlithe began to bark angrily at Rocket. She looked inside, finding Zero's Poké Ball and her Pokégear. With a frown, she looked around the clearing, spotting Rocket's ball only a few feet away and her Pokédex on the other side, blocked by several Growlithe.

Jojo knew that against twenty-some wild Pokémon, hers stood no chance, and that they needed to get out of there _now_. But there was no way she could leave without those two items, and getting them was going to be treacherous.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered, closing her eyes and sighing. "Return!" she yelled, throwing Zero's ball at him, and he quickly dematerialized in the red light. Startled by the sudden movement, the wild Growlithe all took this as a sign of attack, and instantly began to pounce. At least five jumped on Rocket right away, snapping and shooting small embers at him. Jojo darted for the Pokédex, which was about twenty feet away, and the rest of the wild Pokémon were then after her, trying to bite and burn her as well.

She skidded to a stop as she reached the tiny pink Pokédex, shoving it into her bag and then grabbing a nearby stick, barely keeping her balance. She looked at the flimsy branch and sighed before brandishing it like a sword and swinging it at the attacking Pokémon. "Get…away!" she grunted, kicking one that had latched onto her shoe. Jojo turned and raced back to where Rocket was, snatching his ball up on the way. She looked to recall him but couldn't figure out which one was him in the mass of orange and black fur. Jojo glanced around and found a sturdier stick; she grabbed it and began whacking at the pile. "Get out of here!" she shouted, shoving them away until she saw one Growlithe lying on the ground, a few of the more vicious wild ones still attacking him. "Return!" she called breathlessly, pressing the center button of his ball. As soon as he dematerialized, she turned on her heel and ran even faster than she did the night before.

She didn't look back to see if they were chasing her, but she didn't hear them pursuing her for long. When she made it out of the forest she immediately collapsed on the ground, trying to collect her breath.

"You're so _stupid_," she whispered to herself. She'd been warned, she knew better than to take on all those Growlithe, and now she had the stinging bites and burns to prove it.

Gingerly, she wrapped her arms around herself and took deep, slow breaths. Jojo had known that training would be difficult, but she hadn't realized how dangerous it was. The Growlithe hadn't been particularly powerful, and even though they been had outnumbered, her life was never in danger. But still, in all the stories she'd ever been told and all the movies she'd seen, Pokémon never attacked people. Seemingly kind strangers didn't steal money. She almost felt like she'd been slapped in the face or violently shaken awake as she came to the realization of how sheltered she had been her whole life. Why had no one warned her about any of this?

A very small part of her couldn't help thinking that it wasn't too late to turn around. Waiting a few weeks wouldn't be too horrible, and now that she had Rocket, she could train him around New Bark and be more prepared the next time around.

Even as the thought occurred to her, her eyes rolled automatically. There was absolutely no way she was returning home, but she still felt lost. She no longer had any money, any Poké Balls, and least of all, any dignity. _Pokémon Center_, she thought, too shaken to consciously process the whole sentence, and with some effort, she forced herself up and began the short walk back into town.

Jojo entered the Pokémon Center stumbling, and Nurse Joy looked up in alarm from behind the counter. With one look at her burns, bite marks, and singed blonde hair, she sighed and stood up. "Growlithe pack?" she asked, and Jojo nodded solemnly. "Chansey!" Nurse Joy called, and a rotund pink Pokémon Jojo had only ever seen in pictures ran out from one of the back rooms, carrying a silver tray.

"Chan!" she said dutifully, looking from Nurse Joy to Jojo. Jojo, however, had noticed the only other person in the center, a blue-haired boy using the video phone, was staring unabashedly at her. She narrowed her eyes threateningly, and he immediately turned back around to continue his conversation.

"Take her Pokémon, you know what to do," Nurse Joy instructed, and Chansey held out the tray as Jojo placed the two Poke Balls in it.

"Come with me and I'll patch you up," Nurse Joy said, and Jojo nodded, following her into a door down the hallway. "Up here." She patted a doctor's table, which Jojo hopped up onto as the nurse began searching through one of the cabinets before finally pulling out a green bottle. "Humans aren't meant to withstand Pokémon attacks, you know."

Jojo winced as Nurse Joy applied the Burn Heal to her wounds, fighting the tears that came instinctively to her eyes. "But luckily, the same cures seem to work on them," Nurse Joy said, frowning as she wrapped bandages around the wounds. "Your injuries aren't too bad, but they're gonna be sore for a while. Why on earth were you out there unprotected? There are signs everywhere warning trainers not to get close to their den. They're horribly territorial, a direct result of their habitat being compromised by the expansion of the city. And now they're talking about removing their habitat altogether, when anyone can see all they need is to be given some space..." She trailed off, speaking more to herself than anyone, and Jojo could tell by her tone that it was not the first time she was saying such things. It only took her a few more moments to finish bandaging her. "Anyway, that's all I can do for you. Your Pokémon should be completely healed. Come with me," she said with a small sigh, exasperated from her earlier rant. Jojo jumped down from the doctor's table she had been sitting on and followed the nurse out to the main lobby of the Pokémon Center.

"Chansey! Chan!" The pink Pokémon ran up to them, carrying a tray with two Poke Balls in it.

"Are they okay?" Jojo asked worriedly, speaking for the first time since arriving at the center.

"Chan!" Chansey said with a definite nod, reaching out to pat an uninjured part of Jojo's arm.

"Thanks!" she said, allowing herself a small smile as she breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately, she kneeled down and released Rocket and Zero from their balls, eager to see them.

As soon as they materialized, Rocket let out a yelp and ran into Jojo's outstretched arms. "You're okay!" She pulled him close to her body and squeezed him tight. "You were really brave," she whispered in his ear, and he licked her cheek in response. "We totally could have taken them if they didn't surprise attack us like that!" Rocket gave a small growl and bark in agreement.

"Yeah? Why don't you just go back there tomorrow and show them who's boss? Or better yet, give them a taste of their own medicine and sneak up on them tonight!" The boy had apparently finished his phone call and had come over to talk to her.

She frowned, narrowing her eyes again as Rocket leapt out of her arms, growling. She opened her mouth to retort, but was distracted by her Pokémon biting the boy's leg.

"Ow, what the-?" the boy shouted, kicking at the Growlithe angrily.

"Rocket!" she exclaimed, taken by surprise at his action. "No biting!" she tried to reprimand, but her voice was quavering with suppressed giggles and it lacked any real conviction. When he didn't release the boy, her voice got firmer. "Rocket, stop biting." He slackened his jaw and let go, walking calmly back to Jojo's side, where he was rewarded with a head scratch.

"What the hell? Don't you know how to train your Pokémon?" the boy snapped, his teasing mood gone.

Jojo glared once more, despite being taken aback by his language. There was no way this boy was much older than her, and she had little appreciation for both his words and the tone he said them in. "Can I help you?" she said pointedly.

The boy shrugged, eyeing Rocket warily. "I was gonna say you look familiar, but I wasn't planning on you being a famous celebrity with a guard dog."

Jojo allowed a small smile to flit on her face. "I'm not famous...yet," she said. "And I just caught him today. But I don't know where you'd know me from." That was a lie; she and Jillian looked extraordinarily similar, and she was used to getting mistaken as her sister in public.

He frowned as he studied her face, trying to match it in his memory. With another shrug, he said, "I give up. I don't know either. I'm Rory," he said, extending a hand.

"Jojo," she replied, standing up and taking it. "And I'm sorry about your leg."

"It's cool, I can handle it," he said, rolling his shoulders back and puffing out his chest slightly. Jojo smiled again, but quickly caught herself and forced her face back into a bored expression. "So, where are you from, Jojo?"

She froze for half a second, quickly running through the possibility that she was now wanted for stealing Zero. If word had gotten out that Professor Elm's lab had been broken into, she figured revealing that she was from New Bark wouldn't be in her best interests.

"Olivine," she replied, which wasn't a complete lie, considering she had lived there until she was seven. "What about you?"

"Blackthorn. I just started training, and I'm about to get my first badge tomorrow. Well, hopefully. I mean definitely! I mean…" Rory's voice faded out as his confidence faltered. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away.

She looked curiously at the suddenly shy boy before her, who just seconds ago had been fearlessly coming to talk to her, even making a few jokes while he was at it. All of a sudden, Jojo found that she was strangely interested in him.

"Me too!" she said, trying to keep the conversation alive. "Are you excited?"

"Yeah, just nervous, I guess. Are _you_ excited?"

"Of course! I've always always _always_ wanted to be a trainer. And this is the very first step! Well, it's the first important step."

They began gravitating towards the sofas near the video phones as Rory continued. "No, wouldn't that be getting your first Pokémon?" They sat facing each other, Rocket in Jojo's lap and Zero on the floor in front of them. "You said you just caught your Growlithe today, so you started with a Slowpoke?" He raised his eyebrows, and she felt the slight condescension in his action. "Why?"

Jojo was hit with a twinge of annoyance at this; sure, she was allowed to hate Zero for being pathetic, but that didn't mean other people could. He was still her starter. "Because Slowpoke are awesome!" she snapped, crossing her arms. Rory looked alarmed, leaning back and holding up his hands carefully. "Just because most people aren't smart enough to train them doesn't mean they're useless. Most mediocre trainers-"

"Okay, I'm sorry!" he said, cutting her off.

Realizing she had been about to go off on a rant, she blushed slightly in embarrassment. In an effort to gloss over the moment, she asked, "So, what Pokémon do you have?"

In response, he pulled out two of his own Poke Balls and released a tiny blue mouse with a tail as big as its body and a red, molten slug.

"This is Riley, my starter," he said, motioning to the Azurill, which squeaked in greeting. "And this is Xander, my Slugma."

Jojo grinned and reached out to pet Riley, wondering why she wasn't lucky enough to get a starter as cute as his.

"Well, Zero is my Slowpoke," she said, acknowledging the unresponsive Pokémon on the floor, "and I think you've already met Rocket."

Rory's bitter chuckle mixed in with her teasing giggle, and she looked at his expression uneasily. "Are you okay? Was his bite that bad? I don't think they're _that _painful." She looked down to examine her own injuries.

"No, it's not that..." he said, trailing off.

"Then what?"

"Just..." He looked wary. "Why did you name him Rocket?"

Jojo looked questioningly at him. "Because Rockets are fast. And fire-powered. Kinda like a Growlithe," she said flatly.

"That's it?"

"Yeah?"

He frowned at her, as though trying to figure out what her motives were. She felt uncomfortable under his gaze, and she couldn't help thinking of a phrase she'd heard her mother say before, that he was "_seeing right through her_". She shifted, feeling anxious.

"It's just...when most people hear the word 'rocket', they think of Team Rocket."

"Oh!" she said, finally understanding his apprehension. "Well, it's not about them. I don't even know, like, anything about Team Rocket, anyway," she said in a very final tone, as though this settled the matter.

"I don't either, really. I mean, I know they used to be a really powerful and really evil organization, but they disbanded when their leader died. I think my dad said that was about three years ago."

What he was saying seemed to match with the little background knowledge Jojo had of the team. Her parents, while never really obstructing her from learning about the team, had kept her and her siblings fairly protected from any news about Team Rocket. They never spoke about it in front of the children, and any questions asked were dismissed with vague, simple answers. They had made everything surrounding the organization seem bland and uninteresting, so she had never been curious enough to research it herself, though she did remember hearing about the disappearance of someone named Giovanni a few years ago in school.

She nodded. "Yeah, well, good thing he's gone, right?"

Rory frowned again. "That's the thing, though. Recently, there's been more and more crimes happening, and the police are saying it's the work of Team Rocket."

"But their leader's dead!"

"I know," Rory said, wide-eyed and nodding. "That's what makes the whole situation weird. And why you probably shouldn't name your Pokémon after them," he added teasingly.

"He's not!" she said indignantly, crossing her arms, though she smiled a little as well. "Let's talk about something else. I don't like Team Rocket. You're from Blackthorn, right? What's it like there?"

They talked for almost two hours, over which time Jojo learned that Rory was the youngest out of four children, though both of his parents had been married before, so they were only half siblings. He hatched Riley himself from an egg one of his brothers gave him for his birthday, and Xander was a gift from his sister, a coordinator. She told him about taking care of her brothers and that her sister danced, though she made sure not to mention that Jillian happened to be a Kimono Girl. Rory, she decided quickly, was easy to talk to, but she couldn't explain the urge she had to tell him _everything_.

_I'm a thief._

_I stole a Slowpoke._

"Jack's five, and Jake is three. Jack's pretty quiet. He just kinda keeps to himself. Jake's the exact opposite. He couldn't keep to himself if he tried."_ I broke into Professor Elm's lab to get away from them._

It would be so simple, so annoyingly easy. All she had to do was say one sentence, and she was almost morbidly curious to find out what his reaction would be. The words kept hovering on the tip of her tongue, almost making it out, but it was like she kept tripping at the finish line. Maybe it was the fact that she enjoyed Rory's company and didn't want him disgusted in her, or maybe she simply didn't want to go to jail, but she couldn't force herself to say it. Instead, she stifled a yawn, causing Rory to look at his Pokégear.

"Wow, it's late!" he said in surprise, and they looked down at their Pokémon, all of which had fallen asleep. After recalling them, the pair stood up. "Are you staying at the center?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Jojo said, truthfully not having thought of her sleeping arrangements for the night. She felt a little disappointed, knowing that the moment to admit the truth to him had past.

"Well, you should go get a room from Nurse Joy," he said, and she nodded, walking over towards the counter. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, maybe," she said with a smile. "Goodnight!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Hey guys, remember me? No? Oh. Well, that's understandable, considering it's been a year since I last updated, which is _crazy_. This year's been ridiculously hectic for me, and I'm sorry that it interfered with my updates! If it's any consolation, this chapter more than doubles the current word count of the story, so hopefully that makes up for it a little bit!

No? You're still mad? Okay, well, how about I give you another surprise: chapter four is already finished! I'm gonna try and write ahead some more before I publish it, but you can expect that one soon.

Anyway, this chapter was written over a long period of time and in several different increments (a lot, surprisingly enough, on my iPod), but I tried to make it flow together. We also got to meet two of my favorite characters, Rocket and Rory! Rory originally wasn't going to appear until much later in the story, but I really like him, so I bumped his introduction up. What do you think?

I have way too much fun writing dramatic Jojo. I actually love making her cry over the stupidest things (like catching a Growlithe), because I am some sort of sadist, I guess.

also the chapter title is like the cleverest thing ever okay

Thanks for reading!

~Irene


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